Responsive Reading: Hebrews 11 : 1-3, 32-35; Psalm 119 : 44, 46

1.     Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

2.     For by it the elders obtained a good report.

3.     Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

32.     And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:

33.     Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

34.     Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

35.     Women received their dead raised to life again.

44.     So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever.

46.     I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.

1. Psalm 46 : 1-3 (to 1st .), 4-6, 10, 11 (to 1st .)

1     God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2     Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3     Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.

4     There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

5     God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

6     The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

10     Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

11     The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

2. Daniel 3 : 1 (to :), 4-6, 8, 9 (to 1st ,), 12-14, 16-21, 24-27

1     Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits:

4     Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,

5     That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:

6     And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

8     Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews.

9     They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar,

12     There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

13     Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these men before the king.

14     Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?

16     Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.

17     If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

18     But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

19     Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.

20     And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

21     Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

24     Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellers, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.

25     He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

26     Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, came forth of the midst of the fire.

27     And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellers, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.

3. Psalm 56 : 3, 4

3     What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

4     In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

4. Matthew 4 : 23, 24

23     And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

24     And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

5. Matthew 5 : 2

2     And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

6. John 6 : 63

63     It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

7. Romans 8 : 1, 2

1     There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2     For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

1. 468 : 9 (There)-11

There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all.

2. 139 : 4-9

From beginning to end, the Scriptures are full of accounts of the triumph of Spirit, Mind, over matter. Moses proved the power of Mind by what men called miracles; so did Joshua, Elijah, and Elisha. The Christian era was ushered in with signs and wonders.

3. 335 : 7 (Spirit)-15

Spirit, God, has created all in and of Himself. Spirit never created matter. There is nothing in Spirit out of which matter could be made, for, as the Bible declares, without the Logos, the Æon or Word of God, "was not anything made that was made." Spirit is the only substance, the invisible and indivisible infinite God. Things spiritual and eternal are substantial. Things material and temporal are insubstantial.

4. 159 : 23-29

The medical schools would learn the state of man from matter instead of from Mind. They examine the lungs, tongue, and pulse to ascertain how much harmony, or health, matter is permitting to matter, — how much pain or pleasure, action or stagnation, one form of matter is allowing another form of matter.

5. 160 : 14-29

Anatomy finds a necessity for nerves to convey the mandate of mind to muscle and so cause action; but what does anatomy say when the cords contract and become immovable? Has mortal mind ceased speaking to them, or has it bidden them to be impotent? Can muscles, bones, blood, and nerves rebel against mind in one instance and not in another, and become cramped despite the mental protest?

Unless muscles are self-acting at all times, they are never so, — never capable of acting contrary to mental direction. If muscles can cease to act and become rigid of their own preference, — be deformed or symmetrical, as they please or as disease directs, — they must be self-directing. Why then consult anatomy to learn how mortal mind governs muscle, if we are only to learn from anatomy that muscle is not so governed?

6. 161 : 3-10

You say, "I have burned my finger." This is an exact statement, more exact than you suppose; for mortal mind, and not matter, burns it. Holy inspiration has created states of mind which have been able to nullify the action of the flames, as in the Bible case of the three young Hebrew captives, cast into the Babylonian furnace; while an opposite mental state might produce spontaneous combustion.

7. 113 : 26-32

The divine metaphysics of Christian Science, like the method in mathematics, proves the rule by inversion. For example: There is no pain in Truth, and no truth in pain; no nerve in Mind, and no mind in nerve; no matter in Mind, and no mind in matter; no matter in Life, and no life in matter; no matter in good, and no good in matter.

8. 288 : 3-8

The suppositional warfare between truth and error is only the mental conflict between the evidence of the spiritual senses and the testimony of the material senses, and this warfare between the Spirit and flesh will settle all questions through faith in and the understanding of divine Love.

9. 243 : 4-9

The divine Love, which made harmless the poisonous viper, which delivered men from the boiling oil, from the fiery furnace, from the jaws of the lion, can heal the sick in every age and triumph over sin and death. It crowned the demonstrations of Jesus with unsurpassed power and love.

10. 162 : 16-28

Working out the rules of Science in practice, the author has restored health in cases of both acute and chronic disease in their severest forms. Secretions have been changed, the structure has been renewed, shortened limbs have been elongated, ankylosed joints have been made supple, and carious bones have been restored to healthy conditions. I have restored what is called the lost substance of lungs, and healthy organizations have been established where disease was organic. Christian Science heals organic disease as surely as it heals what is called functional, for it requires only a fuller understanding of the divine Principle of Christian Science to demonstrate the higher rule.

11. 391 : 7-13, 18-28

Instead of blind and calm submission to the incipient or advanced stages of disease, rise in rebellion against them. Banish the belief that you can possibly entertain a single intruding pain which cannot be ruled out by the might of Mind, and in this way you can prevent the development of pain in the body. No law of God hinders this result.

When the body is supposed to say, "I am sick," never plead guilty. Since matter cannot talk, it must be mortal mind which speaks; therefore meet the intimation with a protest. If you say, "I am sick," you plead guilty. Then your adversary will deliver you to the judge (mortal mind), and the judge will sentence you. Disease has no intelligence to declare itself something and announce its name. Mortal mind alone sentences itself. Therefore make your own terms with sickness, and be just to yourself and to others.

12. 393 : 16-24, 29-4

Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind governs, and that in Science man reflects God's government. Have no fear that matter can ache, swell, and be inflamed as the result of a law of any kind, when it is self-evident that matter can have no pain nor inflammation. Your body would suffer no more from tension or wounds than the trunk of a tree which you gash or the electric wire which you stretch, were it not for mortal mind.

Man is never sick, for Mind is not sick and matter cannot be. A false belief is both the tempter and the tempted, the sin and the sinner, the disease and its cause. It is well to be calm in sickness; to be hopeful is still better; but to understand that sickness is not real and that Truth can destroy its seeming reality, is best of all, for this understanding is the universal and perfect remedy.

13. 120 : 11 (matter)-12

…matter can make no conditions for man.